It’s no secret that Sega has changed. Since bowing out of the console business in late 2001, the one-time behemoth has become a prolific multi-console publisher but a shadow of their former selves, emphasizing a quantity of titles over quality. Who can blame them though? Creative game design may be Sega’s enduring legacy but it certainly didn’t line their pockets. They have abandoned their once eccentric impulses, favoring ancient franchises over new IP. This is no doubt thanks to their diminished in-house development and the exodus of some of their most talented auteurs, like Tetsuya Mizuguchi, Naoto Oshima, and Yuji Naka. Yu Suzuki, Sega’s most prolific and celebrated creator, remains with the publisher/developer to this day. Suzuki was responsible for many of Sega’s defining titles, Space Harrier and Out Run, as well as a pioneer of 3D gaming with his Virtua line of racing, shooting, and fighting games. But since the release Shenmue II, the second part of Suzuki’s wildly ambitious trilogy, he has all but disappeared as game maker.
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